Sibling Rivalry

Alex Bonilla has been with the BBC for nine years. After working under his brother as the assistant kitchen manager at our Walpole location for several years, he recently became the kitchen manager of our Franklin pub. We stopped in to the Franklin BBC a couple of weeks ago and caught up with our very enthusiastic new K.M.

While the day-to-day menu in each of our pubs is the same, the specials change weekly. They’re created by each pub’s K.M. and vary from location to location. When it comes time to decide on the dishes they’ll feature for the week, the kitchen managers love flexing their culinary muscles, and Alex was kind enough to whip up some of his creations for us when we visited.

Brussels sprouts tend to be a polarizing vegetable; people either love them or flat-out despise them. Prior to sampling Alex’s smoked pork shoulder with Brussels sprouts and fingerling potatoes topped with a sauce of Fuller’s London Pride beer, bourbon and cranberries, we’d have to count ourselves very much in the ‘despise them’ camp when it came to the little cabbage-like things. But after one taste of Mr. Bonilla’s handiwork with the tiny Green Monsters (Go, Red Sox!), we’ve totally switched camps. Way to hit it out of the park, Alex!

As we sampled his next extra-special special – seared ahi tuna with sesame seeds with a soy-lime reduction, cilantro lime slaw and mango pico de gallo – the soft-spoken Alex opened up…just a little bit.

“I want to put this kitchen right on top with the food presentation and specials,” he said. “I want to be better than my brother,” he added.

The smile on Alex’s face when he declared his plan to best his brother left us with no doubt of his affection for his sibling. The determination in his voice led us to believe he meant every word of it.